Monthly Archives: November 2017

God is calling us to be intimate with Him. This week we learned about Adonijah the son of David who got himself into a lot of trouble when he tried to glorify himself and exalt his own life. Often Satan tries to trick us into believing that we have a right to certain things. He coerces us into claiming these things and the result is that we often fix our hope in these things and not in God. We find ourselves angry when God does not give us what we feel we deserve. What is your heart and hope fixed in? Adonijah found that his own plans and schemes only led to his own demise. He ended up running from the law, running as a fugitive, yet in his desperate state he found hope at the horns of the altar. No matter how messed up we think we are or how great we think we are, our hearts need some serious re-calibration.

This week we talked about the burdens that build up within people over the years. Sometimes we hang on to struggles or experiences for 5, 10, 15 years. These struggles or experiences build up and become an unbearable weight. The altar, is the one place we can come to lay down these burdens. The only problem is that after we lay down our burdens we often find ourselves picking them up again the moment we leave God’s presence. Jesus says “come to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus is the only one who can give us the rest, hope, and relief that we need. But we need to learn how to approach Him, and how to lay these things down for good. This message will present you with tools for approaching the altar and making sure that the burdens and pains that you leave at the altar actually stay there!

This weeks message was from Ezekiel 39, which talks about taking responsibility for our shame and unfaithfulness. In guilt and shame people often try to hide their faults and struggles, but in these verses God clearly describes that in order for us to enter into His peace and His promises, we must be able to be open about our faults and struggles. WE MUST NOT LIVE ASHAMED LIVES!!! Paul said i’m not ashamed of the gospel. Paul was not ashamed to call himself the least of all the apostles, Paul was totally accountable for his shame and unfaithfulness, He wasn’t trying to hide it. The gospel is the good news about Jesus, not us. If the gospel were about us and our performance it would not be good news at all. The gospel is that I COULD NOT, but CHRIST COULD. The gospel is that I am rotten but Christ is righteous in my behalf. The gospel is good news precisely because its not about us. Church is the one place where confessing our shame and unfaithfulness should actually be good news. BECAUSE IT’S NOT ABOUT US!!! Praise God!!

This week Pastor Mike talked about how God has called the church to be set-apart (holy). How God doesn’t desire perfect people, but set-apart people. Jesus Christ broke down the barriers that stood in-between us and God. Jesus Christ removed the need for the temple structure. Jesus Christ redeemed a people that they might be filled with God’s very own Holy Spirit. A regenerated people, not caught up in civilian affairs, but totally preoccupied in their devotion to the one who died to give them new life.

We talked about the process of daily rooting ourselves in God as well as some of the various ways in which God makes himself known to us in daily life.